Mobile, AL – The 11^th-seed Cumberlands women's tennis team notched their ninth sweep of the season this one coming in the opening round of the NAIA Tournament as the Patriots defeated #22 Midland 4-0 Tuesday afternoon at the Mobile Tennis Complex.  With the win, UC improves to 21-2 on the year and advances to the second round for the four consecutive season.

Cumberlands opened the match with strong doubles play as Meiri Okuwaki and Laura Prieto blanked Ari Lumanog and Lainie Fanton 6-0 at #1 doubles to give UC the advantage.  Moments later Johanna Beckmann and Tessa Gray clinched the doubles point and the 1-0 lead after a 6-2 win at #3 doubles.  The duo improves to 6-5 on the season. 

At #2 doubles Fan Shiau and Marina Nagai were leading 5-3 when the match was halted.

The Patriots continued their strong play in singles as Shiau notched her 19^th win over the season with a 6-0, 6-0 win over Graziela Dallagnol at #4 to make it 2-0 in favor of UC.  Okuwaki, the Patriots top player, extended her win streak to consecutive matches after defeating Lumanog 6-2, 6-0.  Okuwaki is now 20-1 on the season. 

Prieto closed out the match at #2 singles with a straight sets win (6-1, 6-2) over Kristina Khmelevskai to clinch the match and the 4-0 win. Prieto has improved to 16-3 on the season.

Marina Nagai (#3 singles), Beckmann (#5 singles), and Ching Jung Shen (#6 singles) all won the first set of their respective matches and were in the second set when play was halted.

UC advances to the second round, where they'll face sixth-seed Southeastern.  First serve is set for Wednesday, May 17, at 10 a.m.

For the latest and most up-to-date information on University of the Cumberlands Athletics. Please visit www.cumberlandspatriots.com. Follow us on Twitter- @UC_Patriots and @UCPatsGameday, Instagram- @UCPatriots, TikTok- @ucpatriots, Youtube- Cumberlands Patriots, and Facebook by searching University of the Cumberlands Athletics.